A Week on the Estate: Welcome Rain, Passing Swarm & Honourable Mention

Closer to home, the first of this year’s Lincolnshire Buff chicks got acquainted with the great outdoors. Once they’d got used to the bright light, they loved the sunshine and the warm breeze ruffling their feathers.

The Lincolnshire Buff is a variety of heavy, large fowl bred in large numbers in this county from the 1850s to the 1920s. Females weigh in between 3-4kg, and males between 4-5kg. Cockerels add a full copper-bronze tail to the breed’s natural buff colour. Today’s Buff has a lot to recommend it to smallholders and organic farmers. The breed is a good layer with a calm temperament and an ability to brood its own chicks.

Elsewhere in the Walled Garden, we spotted a swarm of honey bees on the cherry tree. Swarming in spring or early summer indicates a healthy local population of these helpful pollinators. When numbers boom, a single colony typically splits, with the old queen leading half of her subjects to form a new hive. The intrepid explorers will gather in a safe place within 30m of the original hive while scouts seek out a new home. Once a choice has been made, they’ll disappear as suddenly as they appeared. This may be a good summer for honey.

Finally, we were delighted to receive an honourable mention in The Independent’s recent article on the best door-to-door ethical meat boxes. The report noted that “the story behind the meat” increasingly matters to consumers. More and more people are opting for better meat, less often. When they do choose meat, they want superior taste and the knowledge that the animal was free-roaming and pasture-fed with high standards of welfare. Click HERE to read the article.

Our commitment to animal welfare, regenerative practices and the superior taste and quality of Massingberd-Mundy beef is clearly paying dividends.